Army trauma expert quit after admitting PhD fraud

An Army statistician, whose research informed battlefield treatment decisions, was quietly forced to resign in January after admitting she did not earn the doctoral degree she had been claiming.

Inquiries by the Associated Press revealed that not only did she deceive the army about her PhD, but she didn't earn the master's degree on her rÈsumÈ either, something army officials said they had not realised.

Managers at the Army Institute of Surgical Research in San Antonio initially rebuffed the whistle-blower who tried to tell them about the degree fraud, according to emails obtained by the AP. But

the statistician, Amy N. Apodaca, ultimately quit in January after her bosses confronted her, the army said in a

statement.

Apodaca held a secret-level security clearance, officials said. The case raises questions about how she was able to pass a background check, and about the vetting procedures at the Institute of Surgical Research, the army's leading laboratory for improving the care of combat casualties. Some of Apodaca's supervisors there endorsed her qualifications on LinkedIn, the workplace